Associate Professor of Computer Science Dr. Charlie Obimbo from the University of Guelph, in the Canadian city of Ontario, has returned to USIU-Africa for a second time as a Carnegie Africa Diaspora Fellowship Program Fellow.

Prof. Charlie Obimbo is being hosted by ICT Director Dr. Paul Okanda and the School of Science and Technology, to co-develop a curriculum for a graduate degree in Information Security, a project he begun during his last visit in 2015. In that respect, Dr. Obimbo will lead School faculty in discussing course outlines, as well as carrying out a stakeholder survey to include in the program proposal.

The university is anxious to introduce a graduate program in Information Systems Security given the growing cyber security threats faced by firms around the world. According to Mr. William Makatiani (CEO, Serianu) in his Africa Cyber Security Report 2016, due to the growing number of African organizations that digitize their business processes and connect to the internet, there is growing risk of cyber-attacks, and thus the need to “build capacity to anticipate, detect, respond and contain such attacks”.

Dr. Ombima's extensive experience as Chair of the Curriculum Committee, as member of the Cyber Security Program Committee and the School of Engineering Programs Committee at the University of Guelph, is expected to be invaluable in developing the comprehensive curriculum that surpasses the new program requirements of our accrediting bodies (American WASC Senior College and University Commission, and the Kenyan Commission for University Education).

The Carnegie Africa Diaspora Fellowship Program is a scholar fellowship program, offered through the Institute for International Education and hosted by USIU-Africa, where Scholars are hosted by African higher education institutions, as they engage on a wide range of projects designed to foster collaboration and build capacity at the host campuses.

Currently 35 universities in six African countries are hosting 46 African-born academics working in North America, bringing to 282 the number of diaspora fellows awarded over program's last four years.

In March this year, at the Conference on the Role of the Diaspora in the Revitalization of African Higher Education, which took place at Harvard University’s Center for African Studies, the Consortium of African Diaspora Fellowship Programs was formed to spearhead the 10/10 initiative to supports 10,000 diaspora academics from around over the next 10 years.

Vice Chancellor Prof. Paul Zeleza - himself a former diaspora academic - chairs the Program’s Advisory Council which has approved 140 fellowships in the current cycle expected to last for two years beginning October 2015. Dr. Obimbo’s arrival in May brings to four the number of Carnegie African Diaspora Fellows on campus this semester.